Obama unveils high-speed rail plan

Source: CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama unveiled his administration's blueprint for a new national network of high-speed rail lines Thursday, saying that such an investment is necessary to reduce traffic congestion, cut dependence on foreign oil and improve the environment.

The president's plan identifies 10 likely high-speed rail corridors for federal funding, including California, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York and New England.

It also highlights potential improvements in the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor running from Washington to Boston, Massachusetts.

"My high-speed rail proposal will lead to innovations that change the way we travel in America. We must start developing clean, energy-efficient transportation that will define our regions for centuries to come," Obama said at an event near the White House.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/16/obama.rail /

airlines received their $35 billion bailout, they received more in a lump sum than Amtrak had in its entire history, I'm surprised that Amtrak can afford phones at all.

Airline subsidies are a HUGE ugly secret, and so few folks noticed the giant check they got on Sept. 12th.

Hell, the 'Mixing Bowl' in DC at the intersection of 495 and I-95 is worth more than the Amtrak subsidy.

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Can't you people come up with any new material?

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I'm IT but I know people.

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Dems help each other and people in general.

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And take your fucking bootstraps with you.

Asshat.

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Take your small-minded BS elsewhere you ignorant half-wit. You come on here with an obvious troll user name spouting your right-wing talking points crap.

Ignorant asshole? Oh boo-hoo-hoo, the wittle wight winger called me a name. Such a tough little boy. What are you going to do, insult me to death from your mom's computer?

You could live to be 1000 years old and not be 1/100000 as informed and knowledgeable as ANYONE on this board.


Now please, do the human race a favor, and do the only responsible, reasonable thing you could ever do with your worthless existence.

In the words of the late, GREAT Bill Hicks:

Kill Yourself.

SERIOUSLY.

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I'm in perfect health.

You're just pissed off because someone actually called you on your fake attempt at acting like you know something, and called you on your asshole like behavior.

You started it, and I'm finishing you.

Just give up and go back to the other board, and brag to your cave-buddies how you BRAVELY stood up to the "communists."

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irrelevant presence.

And that's "lack" of the above. "Luck" is something you would have in a casino. Another example of "luck" would be you actually saying anything of consequence or importance.

So Long, little troll.

It was fun "beaching" at you and attempting to penetrate your thick "scull."

Especially after he told me ot give Captain Hilts no assistance what-so-ever. Because that's TOTALLY troll FReeps business.

You missed on on some REALLY classic moments.

We now have new words. Alert Websters:

skull = scull

bitching = beaching

lack = luck

flashing = flushing

And his brilliant assessment of why this plan is not viable?

It's economics. America's a big Country, and the planes do a pretty good job already.

It was pretty complex. Obviously WAY over my head, since he claims to have 2-3 graduate degrees, speaks many different languages, and has 40 people working under him, ordering them around in his broken english.

Also, he did manage to spell accent right, and then spelled it acsent four words later.

For your viewing pleasure there is a post down thread where I recap most of the posts he made, After he claimed all I had to offer was insults and no point of view.

It's entertaining.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Perhaps he was including Pig Latin, Snoopdogish, and Redneck?

Then again I only have one single grad degree...from a number one school.

tsk tsk

He was too easy a target.

At least he didn't die hungry.

Goddamn trolls running loose.

I think it was former Amtrak head David Gunn who said of Congress "They try to starve us to death and then yell at us for being too skinny."

No public transportation system turns a profit. The "profit" is supposed to be the common good. And yet Amtrak is repeatedly expected to perform like a typical business. There's been a long-standing ongoing effort in this country to hobble public transportation to the benefit of automobile, oil, and tire giants. (If you don't know anything about this, try Googling "National City Lines.") We have paid dearly for this selfishness and soon will be paying even more.

You aren't concerned so much for yourself as for the people you're trying to encourage over to public transportation. I'm a huge public transit booster and each time (granted, it's relatively rare) something bad happens, my heart sinks when I realize that it will provide yet another reason for those reluctant to take public transit to continue to stay away.

I expected this kind of thing on the Moscow - Leningrad train!

http://www.transsib.ru/Eng /

Ja nicht verstehe. Vielleicht sie bedeutet "verboten," nein?

fahren is the German word for drive and ride, so farboten also links to that. Austrians and some Germans love to play around with language. Of course, it might just be a typo.

Ich dummkopf, I guess. My Deutsche wasn't any better.

My philological studies have satisfied me that a gifted person ought to learn English (barring spelling and pronouncing) in thirty hours, French in thirty days, and German in thirty years. It seems manifest, then, that the latter tongue ought to be trimmed down and repaired. If it is to remain as it is, it ought to be gently and reverently set aside among the dead languages, for only the dead have time to learn it.
- Appendix D of A Tramp Abroad, "That Awful German Language"

Never knew before what eternity was made for. It is to give some of us a chance to learn German.
- Notebook #14, 11/1877 - 7/1878

..the circumstances and the atmosphere always have so much to do in directing a conversation, especially a German conversation, which is only a kind of an insurrection, anyway.
- The American Claimant, Etc., "Meisterschaft: In Three Acts"

from

http://www.kombu.de/twain-3.htm

(more there)

gotta love it!

And it's tough shit to you when that happens... my experience, anyway.

And pay money for it too.

I gotta travel more.

But seriously, I will not fly, because I will not pay that much to be treated that badly. But I will take the train.

And I do agree that AMTRACK needs to be better, which is why I support Obama's plan. In their defense I want to add that AMTRACK has suffered from a "harsh regulatory environment" for a long time, lack of funding, priority given to freight trains, whining because it "doesn't make a profit."

I was entering Canada at St. Kits once and there was a really suspicious guy - all males between the age of 15 and 45 got their luggage searched - and they removed him from the train. He was seen sticking a wad of cash into his socks and couldn't account for his travel plans etc.

One time when there weren't many people on the train they used us as practice for drug dogs, etc. They stopped the train in the middle of a field - just like the movies - with cop cars on each side and had us put our luggage on the seat and made us go to the next compartment while they trained a drug dog. It was kinda cool. We saw them put the package with drugs on it on a seat. Fido found it.

Be sure to forget to take a bath for a few days before you go through ...
Let them earn their pay.

AMTRACK was rather lackadiasical about the passengers interests, schedules were a guess, it took a long time to get there, it was not all that cheap. But they left you alone, you could walk around, my stuff was not searched, it was less stressful.

That's enough for me!

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asshole...

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Or are you here just to show your ass? Seriously, if you have something to contribute by all means do so. If all you're going to do is insult then stop wasting your time as well as ours. I, for one, would welcome positive input if you have anything. So far I'm not impressed.

argument, but nothing that had any content or detail.

Whats' so hilarious is that HE is the one that started insulting everyone, and then he gets pissed of and indignant when he gets his ass handed to him for it.

And he's not a Republican.

Suuuuuuuuuuuuuure.

Maybe he is a Tory.

"lets kill it. it's STUPID"

Enjoy what's left of your five minutes here at DU. Back to Freeperland with you.

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feel free to enlighten us with your infinite wisdom. What makes high speed rail stupid?

He'll have to wait until tomorrow for Limbaugh to tell him what to think before he can answer.

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Let's have a recap of the RICHLY intelligent discussion you've graced everyone here with on the subject of discussion so far:

"you are easily amazed

they just suck the money and through it to the wind. Obama can ride his high speed train all the way to his beloved europe."

"what about you people?

spend, spend, spend, spend....."

(What about the giggling murderer YOU supported for 8 years? Why don't you explain away the illegal wars, the War Crimes, and the out of control spending that occurred under HIS administration that helped get us into this crisis to begin with, you ignorant little fuck? Maybe you'll also find the WMD's while you are at it.

"just take care of yourself"

"grow your pimple

dems can help them selfs in a candy shop"

Is that you RUSH? I guess you'd know A LOT about pimples, since the one on your ass helped get you out of serving your country.

"lets kill it. it's STUPID"

"what are you smoking?

i gotta get me some of that"

" am guessing i have about 2-3 graduate degrees more than you

but you are the greatest speller. hope it pays. sorry forgot, microsoft's spellchecker took your job.

by the way i am one of the people who are paying for the stimulus so you can continue to be unproductive."

Graduate degrees MY ASS. You can't even put a sentence together or make a valid point about the subject you are blubbering and gurgling about.

"lets put all communist on it and send them far away and quickly"

Another shining example of you "Graduate Degrees" in action. Which online school did you graduate from, freep? Did you get to print out your diploma from Mom's Printer?

"moron have you graduated from first grade?

have you studied anything except for how to feel good?"

NOT ONE Scintilla of anything intelligent or relevant. Just another pathetic piece of half-drunk, half-witted filth stumbling around a message board bleating out insults because his "Football Team" lost. You don't understand enough about the issues or what's really going on in this country to even understand WHY you're complaining, and you know LESS than what the fuck you are talking about. Now, would you like to continue embarrassing yourself, or should we continue to give you the verbal ass-beating you so RICHLY deserve?

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Do you actually have a point to make, or are you just here to call people names?

You have not one single clue about me or ANYONE who posts here, and you don't know one single thing about what you are talking about.

And let's take a look at THIS gem of hypocrisy (I'm not using too many big words for you am I? Pleas tell me if I need to simplify things for your centipede like IQ)

"If you would look at my responses a bit more carefully with your communist degrees you would see, that only idiots like you who are jumping up and down get the responses they deserve. On the other hand people who are civil get civil responses."

What a complete joke you are.

YOU were the one who started throwing around insults and rather tired talking points that have nothing to do with your poorly imaginative user name.

The only thing you came here to do was piss people off and PRETEND that you know something.

You're getting what you deserve.

And who knows, maybe you're not a Republican. Whatever you are, it's plainly clear by labeling people you are a complete and total idiot without a clue.

You wouldn't know a communist if you WERE one. Fucking clueless.

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I can't keep up with your cave-man like spelling and butchering of logic.

Now I know this is hard for someone with such an expansive intelligence and "2 or 3 graduate Degrees", but let's make sure we are on the same page, O Shaman Of Intellect:

The word you want is "with." "wit" is something you clearly lack.

Toilets "flush", they don't "flash". Although the Port-A-Potties you guys used to use at your pathetic "Support The War" rallies may have done something different.

As for your last insult, I hardly think I'm phased by it. Wow, i got insulted by a half-wit freeper who can't even speak, spell, or think. HOW will I survive?

You're so bereft of any kind of ability to think or relate, NO ONE can understand the language you speak.

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I can actually HEAR you getting dumber.

Little troll, I have FORGOTTEN more in a day than you could ever LEARN in a lifetime.

How many words can you BUTCHER. (scull. )

You can't even speak ONE language properly.

And how in the hell does one spell accent properly and then four words later MISSPELL it.

Face it, tiger. You are FAR too easy a target.

And you're beginning to bore me.

C'mon you can do better than this.

maybe that's a good thing

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the DOT has so far completely failed to compensate us for this malfeasance. therefore, we really need to get rid of highway funding until such time as their customer service record improves. at this rate, no one will ever take a car anywhere.

responsibility to maintain the structure. See your local State official. It is out of the Feds hands.

I'll make you a deal. Someone broke into my car a few years back and stole my stereo.

I'll agree to abandon high speed rail if you agree that my stolen stereo calls for tearing up the fucking road ways that destroyed our planet's atmosphere, land and water.

and Amtrack employees need to supplement their income by fencing some of the passengers' belongings. This stuff happens all the time. You should see some of the shenanigans that the Treasury department employees pull. They get away with even bigger hauls.

I almost left my luggage on the train, but the conductor caught me and returned my luggage. Just goes to show you...

Not nearly as painful as leaving my spotting scope on a bus.

In many years of working for Amtrak and hundreds of thousands of miles of riding passenger trains, every compartment on every Amtrak car I've ever been on only locked from the inside. So was your stuff taken from your compartment while you were in it?

With regard to the original topic: I retired from Amtrak recently but worked for them almost 36 years and they will only be 38 years old May 1st. I can tell everyone that Amtrak has had a better farebox return than most, if not all rail passenger systems in the world. They started with leftover junk from the 40's and 50's and tried to do their best. New equipment didn't start to come into service until 1975.

The Raygun Administration cut funding and forced the labor unions to take a 12% cut in wages. This lasted through the reign of king george the first. Clinton was a little better for organized labor, but king george II cut funding and the forces were reduced and let positions go away with attrition. The work load increased and the passenger load increased but the workforce was only 60% or less of what it was in the past. So those of you that met some unhappy Amtrak employees hopefully will understand even today some people are being forced to work overtime.

Things will improve as old equipment is being rebuilt. New people are being hired, new car being ordered but all of this has started less ten 3 months ago. The High Speed rail that is being proposed is in the approximately 120 MPH range as it can be done over a lot more miles of track for a lot less money. We will not get mag-lev or even european standard high speed trains, but hopefully we will get safe, comfortable and fast intercity train service.

And how many people had their cars broken into and stuff stolen from them?

like ours in Europe ?

They dream that they will wake up in Germany.

It depends on how we do the tracks. The problem is the Eastern Corridor "could" go that fast but only on certain stretches. We had to make them that way due to budget constraints at the time.

the track is so old & decrepit that trains need to slow down there. I saw a comparison before: London to Paris is 300 miles and takes 2 hours by train (150mph), while NYC to Boston is 200 miles and takes 3 hours (67 mph)... much of that is due to the track in CT that would cost billions to replace & upgrade. Plus, there is the time it would take to do it, and also the problems that closing a very busy track would cause as well.

you build a new one along side it whatever - banked with longer curves where necesaary. That's how it was done in the UK and prior to that, many years before, in France too for the TGV.

good to know, but there is often not a lot of room to build out along the tracks...

They've got the necessary tracks into London twice now. First time into Waterloo which is just south of the river and second time into St Pancras which just north of the centre. Anywhere along the way down to the coast, through the county of Kent, to meet the channel tunnel was compulsory purchase including houses etc blighted by proximity.

I appreciate that geographical issues may affect the situation. The USA is somewhat larger than the UK which would in CA just about.

Though this is a clearer public need than Kelo vs New London from a few years back.

but over here complusory purchase orders , following relevant public enquiries , are final and there is no appeal against them. Current examples here are the expansions of both Heathrow and Stansted airports which were both preceeded by acquisition of the land necessary for the next Olympics.

Sad to say but given the state of the housing market some might welcome compulsory purchase orders.

To see what's possible watch this from 2 years ago : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gkKAa2jIjk It's French but you'll get the drift.

and left of center... however, when it comes to NIMBY stuff (Not in MY Back Yard), Connecticut and other New England states will defend their homes to the bitter end and beyond. Pfizer wanted to build a research complex next to Storrs, CT (home of the University of Connecticut) - but, they were held up for years with lawsuits on wetlands issues, lawsuits on traffic issues, a possible historic area lawsuit, zoning issues, and more. Finally, Pfizer gave up and moved their planned research complex 45 minutes south of Storrs to New London, CT.

From Wikipedia, the repository of all wisdom: "Eminent domain (United States), compulsory purchase (United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ireland), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Australia) or expropriation (South Africa and Canada) in common law legal systems is the inherent power of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent."

They'd tear the tops off of each other if they were running full speed in opposite directions with the current banks.

Like Henry Ford inventing the car when BMW was already making them, or America inventing the WWW after CERN invented it. We are America, so our doing is greater than everyone else's doing, even when it's not.

There's a little sarcasm in my comment...

Still, it's good that we're trying to move beyond the stagecoach, isn't it?

I live in the West (not California). I'd be happy to have ANY passenger rail - regular old rail would be better than nothing. But, once again, the West (not California) is left in the dust.

sigh.

There would not be enough traffic to justify it in many parts of the U.S.

High speed rail would be great to link southern and northern California. We have the I-5, but considering the traffic it is too narrow and slow.

And since there are no metropolitan centers in all of the west between the West Coast and the Mississippi, it just doesn't make sense to waste money on the rail.

more than it moves people!
That high speed between cities in the middle of no where will move goods FROM the mid west to the rest of the country, a HELL of alot cheaper, and in the end (by ton moved) than by Semi.

You will ALWAYS need semi's to move thing FROM the train, to final destination, but if there was a efficient train system, truck drivers would not have to haul as far from home, much of the time.

again, there will ALWAYS be a need for trucks, I don't see this reducing the truck fleets significantly in this country, but I do see it reducing the long hauls needed - better for truckers?

I'm currently in Holland, and I really don't know what that freeper moran was talking about earlier.

The systems set up here make the US look like a 3rd world country to be honest in so many ways (mind you the reverse can still be said about some things too).

The rail system while made of sugar, is still very reliable 90% of the time.

And everyone uses it. T O N S of people are moved by the train every day, saving lord knows how much pollution from autos.
Also the train (almost) always takes X amount of time to get somewhere, where a car MAY take that time, or it MAY take longer.

Mind you, i REALLY miss driving, but I like being on time to work (most of the time anyway) and when i'm not... well everyone understands that the trains are made of sugar

I live in a large metropolitan area in-between California and the Mississippi. There are several more large, metropolitan areas in the presumed wasteland that both the Eastern seaboard and the West coast like to dismiss out of hand.

I would love to see passenger rail . . . regular passenger rail, even - not even high speed. One of the major joys in my life is traveling to the UK and NOT HAVING TO DRIVE.

sigh.

as I'm leaning here.
it would be great to have a more functional rail system in the us.
Major rail lines to major cities, and perhaps light rail, or something, for the middle sized places...
I know that mass public transit for the ENTIRE country is just not feasible, especially since many communities are set up to get AWAY from civilization, to have their own, quiet nooks in the US, whic hi REALLY appreciate

But for the major bits, we need functional public transport.

an alternative to air travel, that is affordable, or at least competitively priced.

That would be so great! Then I wouldn't have to drive to go to Chicago. I can take Amtrak now, but it takes forever.

They'll prefer it to flying.

The Eurostar has pretty much devastated former air routes between London, Paris, and Brussels.

Of course, many America haven't traveled out of their own county, let alone been able to live in a foreign country, so they are oblivious to what a well designed, well run rail line can do for them.

Of course, there are those that are frightened of the thought of being in a conveyance with other people without going through a pat down security checkpoint.